Tag Archives: HowStuffWorks

With over a quarter of a billion monthly listeners in the U.S., and over 131 million social followers, iHeartMedia has the largest national reach of any radio or television outlet in America. Recently, iHeartMedia announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Stuff Media, LLC, the leading for-profit publisher of entertainment and informative podcast content, which includes HowStuffWorks (HSW) podcasting platform.

iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia’s all-in-one digital music, podcast, on demand and streaming radio service, is already partnered with all major publishers and features more than 20,000 podcasts ranging from NPR to WNYC to ESPN and Gimlet, and the iHeartRadio Podcast Network hosts more than 750 iHeartRadio Original shows.

The acquisition will enable iHeartMedia to leverage Stuff Media’s original content, programming, and experienced podcast management team and to further expand its podcasting platform. The Wall Street Journal reported that a value for the deal of $55 million. The transaction is subject to bankruptcy court approval.

Conal Byrne will join iHeartMedia as head of its podcast division. Stuff Media’s podcasts will maintain their branding and remain headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with Byrne continuing as President and CEO of that studio as well. Byrne will report to Darren Davis, President of the iHeartMedia Networks Group and iHeartRadio.

Chris Peterson has been promoted to EVP of the podcasting division for iHeartMedia, and will oversee the full slate of iHeartRadio Original podcasts, as well as manage the affiliate relationships for the company, and will report to Byrne.

TPX, Canada’s podcast advertising experts, announced a new partnership with HowStuffWorks, the leading for-profit publisher of entertaining and informative podcast content.

The agreement gives TPX (The Podcast Exchange) the first right to market and sell advertisements in the HowStuffWorks podcast network in the quickly growing Canadian market and is made possible due to HowStuffWork’s ability to geo-target relevant host-read advertising.

“This agreement signifies growing confidence in TPX’s position as Canada’s leader in podcast advertising,” stated Jean-Marie Heimrath, President &CEO of TPX. “Our value-add includes published research and in-house expertise to help agencies research, craft, target and curate successful and uniquely Canadian podcast advertising campaigns.”

HowStuffWork’s President and CEO Conal Byrne echoed Heimrath: “As HowStuffWorks Grows year over year, launching new hit shows every month to add to our stable of mega-hits like Stuff You Should Know and Atlanta Monster, we are seeing our audience growing around the world, too – and Canada is no exception. We want to deliver not just the best content for these fans, but the most relevant, highest-quality advertising. We have full confidence in TPX to help get us there in the Canadian market.”

HowStuffWorks, the largest for-profit podcasting company in the world in terms of streams and downloads, unveiled a slate of new shows, an expansion into additional genres and an infusion of creative talent. The news was first delivered at IAB Podcast Upfront.

This news follows an announcement from HowStuffWorks that they had raised $15 million Series A Investment in a growth equity round led by global merchant bank The Raine Group.

Head of new initiatives at HowStuffWorks, Jason Hoch, said “With our recent infusion of capital from The Raine Group, HowStuffWorks is actively searching for new podcast talent and partnerships that will continue to fuel our growth and help us deliver even more amazing content to our listeners.” The new podcasts from HowStuffWorks are set to launch this fall.

Atlanta Monster will re-examine the nearly 40-year-old mystery surrounding the Atlanta Child Murders, re-interviewing witnesses, speaking with experts and victims’ families. Hosted by Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey, who also hosts the breakthrough podcast, Up and Vanished, and jointly produced the HowStuffWorks and Tenderfoot TV “Atlanta Monster” aims to tell the true story of one of the city’s darkest secrets.

Omnibus is co-hosted by Ken Jennings, the winning-est Jeopardy! Champion of all time, and John Roderick, frontman of the indie-rock band The Long Winters. Together, Ken and John will pick a couple of topics a week for a mind-blowing deep dive into obscure stories they fear might be lost to history.

Movie Crush is hosted by Stuff You Should Know‘s Charles W. “Chuck” Bryant. Movie Crush is a weekly interview show where he sits down with his favorite people to talk about their favorite movie. Movie Crush gets into the “what” but also the “why.”

The Daily Zeitgeist is hosted by Cracked.com co-founder Jack O’Brien. This daily podcast will delve into each day’s news cycle to help listeners find the signal in the noise.

HowStuffWorks is the largest for-profit podcasting company in the world. It has several podcasts on iTunes that total more than 35 million downloads a month. You may have heard of Stuff You Should Know and Stuff You Missed in History Class. HowStuffWorks announced that it raised a $15 million Series A growth equity round led by global merchant bank The Raine Group.

Last year, Blucora (who bought HowStuffWorks from Discovery in 2014) sold it to System 1. The $15 Million Series A investment means that HowStuffWorks can spin out from System 1 and become a private entity.

The investment secures an independent future for HowStuffWorks and gives it the capital resources to build upon its proven ability to create premium, evergreen content across podcasting and other mediums.

During the next year, HowStuffWorks will invest heavily into the podcasting medium, with a sharp focus on bringing in fresh global talent, adding new genres with deep IP potential, and pioneering new technology to further develop the podcast industry. As HowStuffWorks expands its podcasting slate across History, Science, Lifestyle, Comedy, and new verticals, the platform will retain loyal to its core as an authentic storyteller for the curious.

Conal Byrne, who was a general manager at HowStuffWorks for seven years before taking an executive role at Discovery, is returning to HowStuffWorks as president. He says HowStuffWorks is now focused on podcasting. The company intends to add another 15 to 20 podcasts in the next year.

HowStuffWorks is a leading publisher of informative podcast, video, and editorial content. HowStuffWorks has announced that Jack O’Brien has joined the team to launch the company’s West Coast operations out of Los Angeles. O’Brian is the founder of Cracked.com. He is tasked with HowStuffWorks’ expansion into comedy, a quickly growing podcast genre.

Jack O’Brien joins HowStuffWorks after 11 years as founder and editor-in-chief of Cracked.com. During his tenure, he cultivated the distinct, satirical voice that Cracked is known for, led creative hiring for the publication and hosted The Cracked Podcast. O’Brien’s unique experience makes him the ideal choice to lead HowStuffWorks’ west-coast growth and move into comedy.

HowStuffWorks is excited to invest in comedy as the first step in expanding the types of new shows launching in the coming months. Chief Content Officer at HowStuffWorks, Jason Hoch, said:

We have grand plans for growing and expanding our audience and leadership position in the podcast space. We started by bringing on creative geniuses from iconic brands and our move into comedy is the first of more genres to come. So much of HowStuffWorks listener base has grown up with us and we aren’t slowing down anytime soon.

O’Brien’s hire comes on the heels of Mental Floss co-founders Will Pearson & Mangesh Hattikudur’s addition to the HowStuffWorks family and the launch of the new podcast Part-Time Genius. Earlier this spring, HowStuffWorks debuted the premier of FoodStuff and released the second season of The Stuff of Life.

Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur are the co-founders of Mental Floss. The print publication of Mental Floss has ended, but the website continues. The Mental Floss site gets 15 million to 20 million unique visitors each month (and an additional 30 million monthly video views). AdWeek reported that Will Pearson said “The company’s at a good place to pass it along.”

Mental Floss is the international media brand that gives smart, curious knowledge junkies their fix with upbeat, witty explorations of everything from science to pop culture to tech to history. They specialize in finding the most fascinating elements of everything their readers want to learn more about, and they illuminate the news you thought you already knew all about.

HowStuffWorks got started in 1998 at a college professor’s kitchen table. They have grown to become an award-winning source of unbiased, reliable, easy-to-understand answers and explanations of how the world actually works. HowStuffWorks creates written content, videos, and podcasts.

Mangesh Hattikudur and Will Pearson will be launching a new podcast under the HowStuffWorks banner. It will be released in May. There hasn’t been any specific details about what this new podcast will be about, but in an interview with AdWeek, the two Mental Floss co-founders expressed an interest in experimenting with what a “knowledge podcast” can be.

HowStuffWorks is an award-winning source of unbiased, reliable, easy to understand answers and explanations of how the world actually works. AdsWizz is the leading global digital audio advertising solution provider. HowStuffWorks and AdsWizz have partnered to connect adversing to the HowStuffWorks podcasts.

HowStuffWorks announced that it will bring dynamic advertising to its expansive podcast library, doubling new advertising inventory for its existing and future portfolio of leading brand partners. Powered by AdsWizz, the partnership is intended to strengthen the value of podcast advertising for brands, while maintaining an inherently intimate listening experience.

HowStuffWorks’ 12 podcast brands have amassed over 650 million downloads in the last eight years, and garner over 29 million downloads every month. With an evergreen podcast library of more than 6,000 episodes totaling over 3,000 hours of listening time, combined with dynamic ad insertion technology, HowStuffWorks is now uniquely positioned to provide a new level of scale to brands seeking to enhance their digital advertising across all platforms.

AdsWizz has built a suite of solutions dedicated to bringing advanced advertising capabilities and extending this one-to-one experience by creating and implementing unique listening experiences informed by listener information like location, content preferences or user profile.